Out of Our Minds: What We Think and How We Came to Think It

To imagine - to see that which is not there - is the startling ability that has fuelled human development and innovation through the centuries. As a species we stand alone in our remarkable capacity to refashion the world after the pictures in our minds. Traversing the realms of science, politics, religion, culture, philosophy and history, Felipe Fernandez-Armesto reveals the thrilling and disquieting tales of our imaginative leaps - from the first Homo sapiens to the pioneers of the digital age. Through ground-breaking insights in cognitive science, he explores how and why we have ideas in the first place, providing a tantalising glimpse into who we are and what we might yet accomplish. A magisterial paean to the human imagination from a wonderfully elegant thinker, Out of Our Minds is a unique history of our species that is sure to linger long in the...

Felipe Fernandez-Armesto is an award-winning British historian and the author of several bestselling books, including 1492, Ideas that Changed the World and The Americas. He lives in Indiana and is a professor of history at the University of Notre Dame.